(Washington, D.C.) – FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski today announced that Josh Gottheimer will step down as Senior Counselor to the Chairman in July. Mr. Gottheimer is also the Director of Public-Private Initiatives (PPI). Jordan Usdan, currently Deputy Director of PPI, will assume the role of Acting Director of Public-Private Initiatives after Mr. Gottheimer’s departure.
FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “For two years, as my Senior Counselor, Josh has been one of my most trusted advisors, working both within and beyond the Federal Communications Commission to help drive our agenda to increase broadband access and adoption, and stimulate job creation, innovation, and investment. Josh has played a key role in nearly every one of our accomplishments, from the agency’s work to obtain landmark authority from Congress to run the world’s first voluntary incentive auctions to unleash spectrum for broadband, to our review of complex transactions. As the first Director of Public-Private Initiatives, Josh put his entrepreneurial approach to work for the American people, building consensus across sectors to advance broadband adoption, broadband-enabled jobs, digital literacy, education technology, cybersecurity, mHealth, and public safety. In particular, Josh’s work to launch Connect2Compete, a first-of-its-kind effort to help close the broadband adoption gap, will make a real difference in the lives of millions of Americans. And he did all of this with an energy, enthusiasm, creativity, and sense of humor that will be greatly missed.”
He continued, “I’m delighted that Jordan will serve as Acting Director of Public-Private Initiatives. In his three years at the Commission, he has been a major force behind some of our most important efforts to close the broadband divide and advance the use of broadband for education and health care, building on his significant contributions to the National Broadband Plan. His talents will serve the Commission extremely well in his new role.”

Staff Bios

Josh Gottheimer

, since joining the Commission in 2010, has served as a strategic advisor to the Chairman on a wide range of policy, legal, and external matters. In that capacity, he has worked closely with others across the agency on wireless, wireline, public safety, and media issues, from voluntary incentive auctions, to USF reform, to major transactions before the Commission. He has also been the Chairman’s principal advisor on privacy, children’s technology issues, and cybersecurity, where he worked to improve network security. Mr. Gottheimer has also been the Chairman's liaison to the agency’s Technical Advisory Committee and the Intergovernmental Advisory Committee, two external advisory bodies. Mr. Gottheimer was named the first Director of Public-Private Initiatives, a new team at the Commission that focuses on harnessing broadband to advance key national priorities such as jobs, health care, cybersecurity, privacy, public safety, energy, and education. In this capacity, Mr. Gottheimer drove the creation of Connect2Compete, a first-of-its-kind, multi-billion dollar broadband adoption initiative with low-cost broadband and device offerings; a national digital literacy program; and a nationwide, multilingual advertising campaign aimed at helping close the broadband divide. Mr. Gottheimer spearheaded the FCC's digital textbook initiative, working closely with the Department of Education and private and public sector education partners to increase digital learning in classrooms across America. Mr. Gottheimer also led the Commission's effort with law enforcement, wireless carriers and manufacturers to combat stolen cell phone theft and a growing black market.
In addition, Mr. Gottheimer directed the FCC’s cybersecurity small business initiative between government experts and private IT and security companies, and facilitated a partnership with mobile carriers to launch the Commercial Mobile Alerting System (CMAS), a new public safety emergency alerting system. Mr. Gottheimer worked closely with Jobs4America to launch an initiative that will bring more than 100,000 new and repatriated call center jobs to the U.S. He also led a new working group on mHealth to knock down barriers to – and encourage the adoption of – wireless medical devices.
Before joining the Commission, Mr. Gottheimer served as Executive Vice President, Worldwide, at Burson-Marsteller, a global communications firm; Director of Strategic Communications at Ford Motor Company, where he oversaw corporate advertising; Senior Advisor to the United States Commission on Civil Rights; and Special Assistant to the President and Presidential Speechwriter to President Bill Clinton. Mr. Gottheimer, a Harvard Law School graduate and a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, is also an author of two books: Ripples of Hope: Great American Civil Rights Speeches and Power in Words: The Stories behind Barack Obama's Speeches, from the State House to the White House.

Jordan Usdan

is Deputy Director of Public-Private Initiatives. In this role, Mr. Usdan helps coordinate the Commission’s public and private partnership efforts on broadband adoption, digital textbooks, cybersecurity, online safety, and wireless health technology. He joined the Commission in 2009 from Howrey LLP in Washington, D.C., where he practiced after receiving his law degree from Georgetown University. Previously at the Commission, Mr. Usdan served as an Advisor in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and as a Program Manager for the National Broadband Taskforce, where he focused on implementation, broadband adoption, international policies, and consumer transparency. He also led the development of the FCC’s fixed and mobile broadband speed tests and the Open Internet Apps Challenge.- FCC -
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